


Suddenly Evil

by Natasja



Series: Very Different Cliches [3]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Suddenly Evil, cliches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 23:02:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natasja/pseuds/Natasja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You know the stories where good or neutral characters can suddenly giveSauron a run for his money in the sheer evil department?</p><p>Yes, it's THAT cliche.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Suddenly Evil

  
  
They did their best not to read or view any fanworks when Suzi-Maria was around, but talking about it seldom hurt, especially when one of them had questions.

This was especially true after the new Middle-Earth movie came out.

  
  
Incorporating several things that were mentioned in passing in the Lord of the Rings books, as well as bits and pieces from the Unfinished Tales, Silmarillion and more, had been a good thing, but had the unfortunate side effect of many fan-writers filling in the blanks for themselves, rather than doing any reading or research.  
  
It made Mairi feel sorry for Thranduil, since she doubted that very many people were going to look beyond the few seconds that he turned away from a good-looking dwarf in need, and later threw him in the dungeon, to the facts and very valid reasons underneath.  
  


It was Denethor after Return of the King all over again.

  
Denethor had been driven by desperation to use the Palantir, which eventually drove him to a bout of madness, and Boromir was the Heir, while Faramir supposedly strongly favoured his deceased mother, so it was natural that Denethor paid more attention to his firstborn. Unfortunately, time constraints meant that the movie showed little of that, and many fan-writers didn't bother to look deeper for the facts, just as they ignored Thranduil's reasons for doing things.  
  


Both the Elvenking and the Steward were good rulers doing all in their power to protect their land and people, but suddenly portrayed as evil, often just because a fan-writer desired a bit of Angst to spice up an otherwise boring fic where a self-insert got the regrettably good-looking son(s).  
  


Right now, the four cliche-sufferers were sitting on the balcony of Mairi's apartment, mid-way through a cooking lesson as they waited for the bread dough to rise. Suzi-Maria was struggling through her second attempt at embroidery. Mairi was comparing colours for the best one to use for a luceted cord. Rowan was looking through a Brewer's Guild book.  
  
Sam had been sent on a run to the shops nearby for more ingredients when he glanced through the handbook on basic embroidery and complimented Suzi on her stem stitch, only to find out that she had been attempting split-stitch. Mairi gave him twenty dollars and a shopping list, and then pushed him out the door before anyone could get hurt or burst into tears.

  
Suzi-Maria simply pretended that the entire incident hadn't happened, concentrating on her work and a movie point of debate. "A friend of mine said that she thought that Thranduil looked triumphant when he turned away. What do you think?"  
  
Mairi didn't look up – like weaving, luceting was one of those crafts you had to keep a very careful eye on. "Probably thought that it served the dwarves right. He was raised in Doriath, after all."  
  
Rowan sighed in exasperation. "Mairi, do you remember how we talked about not everyone having your attention to fictional detail? What does an elven kingdom from the First Age have to do with anything?"  
  
Mairi sighed right back at him. "Thingol, the King of Doriath, asked the dwarves to make a necklace using one of the Silmarils. Long story short, the dwarves were overcome by greed and wound up killing Thingol in the first sack of Doriath. Seeing Thror's greed bring a dragon down on their heads may have seemed like poetic justice to Thranduil."  
  
Suzi-Maria finished the outline of a flower as the door opened and Sam walked back in. "It's a pity no-one thinks to mention that in their fanfic – oh, bugger!"  
  
A flash of white light cut off a very inventive, very nasty and very simultaneous curse from the other three.  
  


* * *

It was unsurprising that they landed in the Elvenking's Hall. It was only a little surprising that they were not the first ones there, and seemed to have arrived late to the party.  
  


They had clearly interrupted something, as a small group of teenagers had stopped mid-scold from where they looked to have been lecturing an impassive Elvenking Thranduil. A somewhat larger group was attempting to flirt with Legolas, but had run into a few problems.  
  


The first problem was in the form of a lady who was either the Elvenqueen or a daughter of Thranduil, most likely the former, who was blocking their way to the three younger elves standing in solidarity and support behind Thranduil. The second problem was that the three younger elves were all glaring at the fanwriters, with no indication of anything nicer than indifferent dislike.  
  


The third problem was the inability to decide or discern which of the three elves actually was Legolas.  
  


For once, Mairi looked absurdly happy to be randomly yanked into a fictional world, curtseying deeply to the Elvenking. The other three swiftly copied her, exchanging worried looks. Mairi was never so happy about being unexpectedly yanked into Middle-Earth unless she was about to make some unfortunate fan decidedly UN-happy with her presence.  
  
Looking around, Sam let out a deep breath. "Suzi, we're friends, but I really wish that this wasn't happening all over the place. Why and/or what did we get yanked into this time around?"  
  


Thranduil spared them a brief glance before turning back to the fan-writers, his impassive visage replaced by a hard stare. "Perhaps you could tell me. If I am to be accused of being worse than The Enemy, of such unspeakable crimes as these children lay against me, I should like to know the reason why."  
  


Rowan groaned and covered his eyes. "At a guess, it's because you have physically attractive offspring, and they don't believe that someone can have such good looks without a tragic past of some kind, and rumour spreads quickly."

  
Sam nodded. "No matter how little sense it makes. My prayer group gets painted as insufferable, intolerant jerks all the time."  
  


Mairi straightened up. "Yes, but you actually _were_ an insufferable, intolerant prat at first, even if you did get better. All that His Majesty is guilty of is perfectly justifiable suspicion and supporting the Men of Laketown and Dale when they sought restitution."  
  


A few of the fan-writers seemed to have recovered from the shock of these new arrivals, who not only weren't joining in the righteous hatred, but were attempting to justify the Elvenking's actions! "But he threw Thorin and the others into the dungeons! And he has an unhealthy interest in jewels!"  
  


Suzi-Maria had been taking lessons in sarcasm from her three friends, even if she wasn't quite as good. "And Mairi's obsession with books frankly scares most people, and Rowan's collection of ornamental daggers can't be healthy! That's hardly a reason to call him evil!"

  
One of Thranduil's three sons spoke up in his father's defence. "The dwarves had thrice disturbed our feast, roused the spawn of Ungoliant, and refused to give their reasons for being in the forest, which is our sovereign territory, at all! We would have been fools to simply let them go!"  
  


The fan-writers tried to think of a rebuttal for this, and failed miserably, attempting to cover by focussing on a different accusation. "But he took an army to march on the Lonely Mountain!"

  
This time, King Thranduil answered for himself. "I'm not such a fool as to face the possibility of a Dragon alone, and I know how unreasonable Dwarves can be about their riches! The Men of Laketown offered only aid, and in return received only ruin. My army marched to aid Laketown and support them as they claimed what was their due!"

  
An especially stupid fan-writer (which, admittedly, did not narrow it down much) tried to come up with another theory. "You're a tyrant, because you keep such a stern rule over your subjects!"

  
Mairi looked around during the heavy pause. "Did that make sense to anyone? Living in the shadow of Dol Guldur, you'd have to keep a stern rule if you wanted your subjects to stay alive! That doesn't make someone a tyrant!"

  
A slightly more intelligent writer (which, again, did not say much) who had found a few canon comments to back up his opinion joined those who had found gaping holes being torn in their arguments. "But the books say that wood-elves are more dangerous and less wise than the others! They call them Dark Elves! Counter that!"

  
None of the four bothered to answer, because a second of the Mirkwood Princes got there first. "Books written by Noldor Elves, I imagine. We loved Middle-Earth and chose to stay, rather than go to Amon, and are called Moriquendi because we never saw the light of the Two Trees before Ungoliant destroyed them. At least we can claim to have never initiated a Kinslaying!"

  
Sam, Rowan and Suzi-Maria all turned to Mairi, who waved a hand. "Sensitive topic; I'll explain later."

  
The last of the would-be-scolds finally had her chance to speak. "But everyone at home said that Thranduil was cruel and abusive to his sons!"

  
This silence was even heavier as the Elvenking's mouth hung open almost comically, and was broken by the Elven Lady, whose flat, deadly, tone could have frozen Mount Doom. "Excuse me?"

  
The four hastily retreated as far as possible in the face of a protective female, bumping into a wall. "And this, everyone, is where we see the dangers of listening to unfounded accusations!"

  
As a child, Mairi and her sisters had come close to being taken away from their parents because of a paranoid medical receptionist who had looked at a child who really _had_  broken her arm falling down a flight of stairs, and whose low immune system led to falling sick easily, and been on the verge of calling Child Protective Services before the family doctor stepped in with the facts.

Needless to say, she had a sore spot about 'Random Abuse fics'.  
  


So did Thranduil and the Lady who was more probably his wife, if the way they gripped hands was any indication. "Children are rare, a thing to be treasured, and there is no such thing as an elfling who is unwanted or unloved! To raise a hand against them –" The Elvenqueen shook her head.

  
Thranduil continued the rebuttal, his face like thunder, an expression mirrored by his sons, two of whom were holding back the third. "I have faced my sons on the training field, teaching them how to use a knife or sword, but I would never deliberately harm them! I demand to know who is responsible for such defamation and slander!"

  
Trying to make themselves invisible against the opposite wall, Sam, Mairi and Rowan all turned to Suzi-Maria, who screwed up her face in concentration. If she could drag them into random fanfiction, then surely she should be able to drag them out, and this was an emergency! None of them wanted to stick around for the result of such an allegation.

  
Whatever Suzi-Maria did, it worked, and they disappeared from the throne room in another flash of white light."

* * *

  
Landing back in her apartment, Mairi threw a spool of embroidery cotton at Suzi-Maria's head, grumbling under her breath about stupid fan-writers.

 

 

 

 

 

/p

**Author's Note:**

> I have seen all of the above reasons used with complete seriousness in fanfiction, as depressing as that is. Thranduil managed to keep Mirkwood mostly safe and under Elven control without the help of a Ring of Power. One does not do that by letting suspicious travellers who refuse to state their business wander through without question. Thranduil's original reason to muster his army was to bring military aid to Laketown, hardly a foreign concept, and when he heard that the Men planned to go to the Lonely Mountain to claim a share of the treasure, he went with them. Either the dwarves were dead, in which case the unclaimed treasure was up for grabs, or the dwarves were alive, in which case they probably weren't likely to part with the treasure without a fight.
> 
> None of these facts make the Elvenking evil, though you wouldn't know it to ask/read some fan-writers.


End file.
